Four Corners explores local markets selling hard-to-find ingredients from around the globe. Got an idea for a place we should check out? Tell us in the comments.
By DCist Contributor Elizabeth Packer
If you’re looking to try crafting your favorite Thai dishes at home, you’ll need to visit Thai Market in Silver Spring; a well-stocked grocery that’s been supplying area residents with authentic Thai ingredients for more than 35 years.
A stroll through the aisles of this unassuming store, located a few blocks from the Silver Spring Metro and away from the downtown area’s more recent development, reveals shelves stocked with products from Thailand that can be hard to find elsewhere. There’s an entire aisle of rice noodles, 50 pound bags of imported jasmine rice, giant bottles of rice vinegar, sweet soy sauce and chili paste, a wide variety of fish sauces, blocks of palm sugar, jars of shrimp and crab paste, bags of kaffir lime leaves, sacks of dried chilis—pretty much anything you might need to cook Thai food. Cashier Peter Gosak proudly tells me that their Thai customers “come into the store and say it’s like being back home in Thailand.”
Looking to make curry? Peruse the colorful variety of tinned curry pastes, available in a variety of flavors, from red to green to yellow to the best-selling Panang, all more fiery and flavorful than the Thai Kitchen brand you find at typical grocery stores. Gosak says the curry pastes and jars of pad thai sauce are the most popular products amongst American customers.
In addition to its riches of dried goods and packaged products, Thai Market has a few freezer cases full of fish, and a small refrigerated case stocked with staples like Thai basil, lemongrass, dried shrimp, small green Thai eggplants, and several varieties of cured pork sausage. There’s also a table where house-made desserts are displayed, including a jello-like sweet flavored with pandan leaves, a Thai custard made with taro and coconut milk, and a rice flour treat stuffed with mung bean.
Gosak and the rest of the market’s friendly staff are happy to answer questions about unfamiliar ingredients and offer advice and cooking tips to those new to Thai cuisine. When I picked up a box of freshly made rice noodles, prepared in house and available only on Saturdays, the cashier who rang me up pulled out an illustrated recipe for pad kee mao (drunken noodles) and pointed out the other ingredients I would need to prepare the dish at home.
If you work up an appetite while shopping, there’s an adjacent cafe, simply called Thai Food, that was added 20 years ago when the market expanded. The no-frills dining room serves up what Gosak says is the best Thai food in the D.C. area. “Most Thai restaurants cook things too sweet,” he explains. “We don’t do that here. We make it spicy.”
Almost nothing on the menu costs more than $10, and an order of pad kee mao confirmed Gosak’s assertion regarding the kitchen’s use of spice. The noodles arrived perfectly stir-fried, flecked with fresh chili and fragrant basil, a welcome burst of fiery heat on a cold winter’s day.
Both the market and restaurant require a $15 minimum for credit cards, so it’s a good idea to come with cash, unless you plan on really stocking up your pantry. You can also supplement your edible purchases with one of the market’s many Thai karaoke CDs, a greeting card decorated in curling Thai script, or one of the bamboo rice steamers found in an aisle stocked with kitchen supplies.
While the D.C. area has a variety of Asian markets, especially ones specializing in Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese ingredients, Thai Market is unique in its focus. It definitely merits a visit from anyone interested in experimenting with Thai cooking and those looking to add some spice to their kitchen.
Thai Market is located at 902 Thayer Ave., in Silver Spring, Md. Both the market and kitchen are open 9:30 to 7:30, Monday-Saturday, and 9:30 to 6:30 on Sunday.
